Preschool - Any Advice????

[babyboo]

My dd is 3 in August and attends daycare 3 days a week. She is quite a bright/clever girl and im told regularly how amazing her language is for her age (i dont notice cause i talk to her every day), but she can string sentence together and have full conversations.

Anyways...... im thinking of taking her out of daycare when she is 3 and enrolling her into preschool. I think she gets bored at daycare and would enjoy the further stimulation of more learning.

Im wanting to know anyones else views on preschool or if you have a child in preschool, what is involved in the day to day learing - what they do.

thanks.

[suemp]

not sure what state you are in but im pretty sure in qld your child has to turn 5 by the end of the year. we have (up here) prep at daycare or pre school at public/private schools. if you enrol your child at public pre school they are not actually allowed to teach your child much in the way of reading and writing, as its not compulsory its "unfair" to the children who choose not to attend school until 1st grade, so therefore its more about preparing them for big school. where as if you keep your child in prep at daycare they do learn maths, reading etc... i choose to send my son to public preschool as i wanted him to interact with the kids he will be going thru school with and academic stuff can come later on. id be more worried about your daughter fitting in socially as age differences can mean quite abit at that age. also in qld you can only enrol for pre school for the beginning of years therefore she would not start till early next year. maybe phone the pre school you are interested in and talk to them
what is involved in day to day learning? they do outside play, show and tell, arts and craft, play corners..as i said its very little academic but they have to be more independant than daycare and are expected to act "more grown up"
ps theres plenty of books on the market that teach phonics, maths, reading writing etc to kids. you may enjoy stimulating her knowledge at home

[clairbear]

Hi babyboo
I am an early childhood teacher, and we were taught at Uni and also working in the childcare profession that there is absolutely no educational difference between long day care and preschool except for the hours (preschool is usually nine till three- day care anywhere from 6.30/7.30 am till later in the evening which is more convenient for working parents), and the fact that they usually have meals cooked in long day care and bring their own lunch to preschool.
All child care staff are trained to educate children in their care (whether at long day care or preschool) through all aspects of play, documenting individual childrens' interests/learning needs and providing stimulating individual learning experiences plus small and large group experiences (language, music, science, maths concepts etc) to help each childs' development and learning skills.
The popular misconception/idea of preschool involving more learning or structure than long day care probably comes from exposure to more outdated preschool experiences (e.g. lots of large group lessons which are not recommended for under fives these days, teacher directed art and craft activities where every child's finished result looks the same such as stencils which are a big no-no these days because they don't encourage individual creativity as well as putting unfair pressure on the children to all be the same, and also the focus should be on the process not just the product).
In my experience working in long day care with children who were going to school the following year, we always devoted the last couple of months of the year to school readiness tasks, which included visiting local schools, bringing a packed lunch to the centre to practise unwrapping sangers etc, sitting in groups for longer periods with a teacher taking group, computer skills, practising writing (if they wanted to, no pressure). Hopefully your daughter's centre will do this too.
Sorry about the long rave, it's obviously something I feel strongly about!

[Lauz]

clairbear said everything i would say as a long day care service provider carer

I don't think you can lose either way- I would just question your day care and ask to see an example of their plans

[minimonte]

I am also an early childhood teacher but i tend to disagree. I have worked in both settings here and in the USA and I have noticed a distinct difference. But i am not ready to make a generalisation as it really depends on each individual setting. i worked in one childcare centre in the US where it was awesome and they actually had great programmes then I have worked ina couple of crappy ones here. It all depends you should just check out different options. I think some of the private 3 yr old kindys are awesome I know here in Perth there are a few really good ones but they are very expensive. I had my little boy in one but they only do half day sessions so i had him in 2 half days and it was very similar to 4 yr old kindy. He loved it and I found it very educational. It all is up to individual choice. Some childcare centres run very good ed programmes just like kindy you just have to check them out
Good luck

[Mumshmum]

My daughter will be 3 in September. Here in Qld we are introducing the new prep year next year. My daughter should have been attending community Kindergarten next year, but with the new Prep requirements, won't be starting until 2008.
This means she will have another full year with me. I personally do not wish to send her to a Child Care Centre, unless it is a community based one with a Parent Committee.(I worked in a Private Childcare centre for many years)
For other people Child Care is wonderful though. When I taught in the Preschool room, I was teaching them everything a Public school preschool would. I guess the only difference was that I may have had 50 children coming through on different days each week, whereas at the state school, there are the same 20 children each day.
If you can, I would look into Preschool.

[squidge]

don't get me wrong education is important, but why not spend these precious years with your daughter instead of putting her into preschool now. There is still so much for her to learn at home. I have a 3 and 4 year old. My 4 year old has just started preschool and my 3 year old wants to start preschool, however. i went on roster for a whole day to help the teachers out bringing my 3 year old along and i noticed the difference between a 4 year old and a three year old. Emotionally a three year old probably would not be ready, and also the 4 year olds seemed to know the younger children in the class, the ones who were not quiet 4 or had just turned 4.
Really, i would recommed just enjoying her now.

[babyboo]

don't get me wrong education is important, but why not spend these precious years with your daughter instead of putting her into preschool now.

because im a sole parent and I work three days a week and if im gunna put dd into a school, i want it to be a good one.

she's three and a half now and more than ready. she is still in daycare and its really not working for her.

[squidge]

you are mum, you know best.

[bubbasmum]

I am also an Early Childhood teacher and i agree with everything clairbear said. Also your daughter is only three and may struggle socially in a preschool setting with children who are older than her.